Title

Author

Date of Award

1-2011

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. Heather McGee

Second Advisor

Dr. Alyce Dickinson

Third Advisor

Dr. Kevin Munson

Fourth Advisor

Dr. Ron VanHouten

Abstract

A classroom response system is a technology that allows individual students to clickers favorably. The second study showed that clicker use during lecture was associated with higher exam scores, but that relationship can be interpreted in several different ways, some of which are not tied to active responding. The implications of these findings with respect to previous research are discussed. provide answers to questions posed by the instructor during lecture using hand held remotes (clickers) that transmit a signal to the instructor's computer via a receiver and computer software (Judson & Sawada, 2002). This instructional technology is widely used in higher education and several studies have shown that it can enhance learning outcomes and its use is generally viewed favorably by students and instructors alike.

The first part of the present study used an alternating treatments design to examine whether discussing questions in small groups before responding improved accurate responding on similar questions on unit exams. A social validity questionnaire was also administered to assess students' perceptions of clickers and discussions as an instructional tool. The second part of the study used a between-subjects design to compare the exam performance of students who used clickers to answer questions during lectures to the exam performance of students who did not answer questions using clickers. The results of the first study did not show any clear advantages of small-group discussion in terms of learning outcomes. However, many students expressed perceived learning benefits of engaging in small-group discussion and almost all participants viewed using